Mark Lijek, one of the real "Argo Six," spoke at the Center Club on Wednesday night. COURTESY WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL OF ORANGE COUNTY

I remember leaving the theater after watching "Argo" and saying, "Doesn't it make you want to just hug a Canadian?" Mark Lijek would add to that feeling of bilateral brotherhood the New Zealanders, the Danes and the average Iranians who risked their safety to keep American Foreign Service employees safe until they could be expatriated via the fantastical film-making ruse depicted in the film.

Lijek was one of the six Americans hidden by the Canadians for three months during the 1979-81 Iranian hostage crisis. I caught him Wednesday night at the Center Club, where he spoke to World Affairs Council of Orange County. Sporting the same maple leaf lapel pin he wore when he and his colleagues and CIA agent Tony Mendez posed as Canadian filmmakers, Lijek told "the real story" of the mission. While his talk focused on his own story, he realized it was impossible to tell it without revealing differences to the movie.

The film starts fairly accurately with the takeover of the embassy, including the failure to destroy classified documents. But it goes astray when an actor says the British and the New Zealand embassies have turned away the Americans. While the Brits did, they had reasons that were understood by the U.S., Lijek said. And the Kiwis, he said, never turned them away, and in fact assisted by finding the Americans a temporary house.

It was that first week after fleeing the embassy that was the most terrifying, says Lijek. They moved five times before landing with the Canadians. "Argo" had all six holing up with Canadian ambassador Ken Taylor. In fact, two stayed with Taylor and his wife and the other four, including Lijek and his wife, Cora, hid in the home of another Canadian official, John Sheardown, and his wife.

"John is not mentioned in the movie," Lijek said, "but probably the pivotal event in the whole thing" was when the Americans, after days of frantically moving from home to home, called Sheardown. "He said, 'Why didn't you call sooner?' That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Once with the Sheardowns, it wasn't as nerve-wracking as "Argo" depicts. "Every night we had a formal dinner and then retired to the den for Coors and cigars, to listen to the BBC and talk politics. ... We had a surprisingly good social life." The Danes and Kiwis were in on the secret and would visit. "I used to refer to it as partying on the Titanic."

When Mendez showed up, he had three extraction plans. Two would have them pose as petroleum engineers or agricultural economists. Those, of course, would require specialized knowledge that the Iranians might be able to challenge. Thus, while the movie-making ploy seemed the most outlandish, it might be the easiest to fake. Lijek was the first to endorse it. Four of the others followed suit; one abstained.

Lijek was to be the film crew's "transportation coordinator." He didn't know what that entailed, but he imagined himself as "a glorified Teamster." They rehearsed their roles for one day and that night had a big party. "The idea was not to leave a single bottle of alcohol for the Iranians."

They woke up "running on adrenaline" and drove to the Tehran airport in a VW bus. Friendly embassies had donated luggage and clothes to stuff inside – although had they ever been searched, the Iranians would have discovered the clothes didn't fit the people they supposedly belonged to.

They had a slight delay – about 30 minutes – but otherwise boarded without incident and took off. No last-minute discovery by the Iranians; no heart-stopping chase down the runway. Like the movie, the Americans waited until the beverage cart came out to celebrate, but unlike "Argo" it was subdued. Iranians might be aboard.

Lijek, 27 at the time, stayed in the Foreign Service 22 years. It had been hard to get into. Plus, he told me, "I figured after what I went through I would always get good assignments." That proved true. He served in Warsaw, Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Katmandu. He and Cora now live in Washington state.

He seems fairly at ease with "Argo." On one hand, he says, it got some key points wrong. On the other hand, had it not been made, "nobody would be talking about (the Canadians' role) at all."

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